October 19, 2008

THE PRICE OF WINNING THE EAST GOES UP:

David Price is one of several reasons that the Rays are going to be even better over the next five years or so than they were this year. The best team in baseball is going to basically just be a contest between the Sox and Rays for awhile. With Josh Beckett hurt that was the Rays in '08. Well done.

Truth be told, Boston didn't win 95 games in the regular season and force a Game 7 in the American League Championship Series the easy way. The Red Sox endured, clawed and battled their way to within one game of reaching another World Series on Sunday, then fell short with a 3-1 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field. [...]

But look no further than the team's performance in the ALCS as an indication of how tough the Red Sox were. Trailing, 7-0, in the seventh inning of Game 5 -- and behind, 3-1, in a best-of-seven series -- the Red Sox rallied for an 8-7 win, then took Game 6 in St. Petersburg to force their third ALCS Game 7 in five seasons -- all of which included Boston late-series rallies.

Yet another miracle comeback -- the same type the Sox became known for throughout the decade -- was there for the taking.

They just fell a little short.

There were obvious inconsistencies throughout -- compare the Red Sox's 21-29 road record at the All-Star break to their 36-11 home mark. Boston won 13 in a row at home from May 2-June 5 but lost 12 of 17 on the road in that same span. The Red Sox rallied to finish the season just four games under .500 on the road.

"You can't help but be proud of the way they've gone about it from Day 1 of Spring Training," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said in early September. "With a lot of little hurdles and moments of adversity that have crept up, they just keep grinding through it."